Which to use
“le” is a determiner and “Lees” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,852
- “le” frequency rank
- #49,048
- “Lees” frequency rank
- 50900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | le | Lees |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der, die, das | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Lee |
Where the eye mixes le and Lees
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses le with Lees
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: le is [lə] while Lees is [leːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “le” sits inside “Lees”, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
le is recorded at frequency rank #1,852, classified as adet, pronounced [lə]. Lees is at rank #49,048, tagged as anoun, pronounced [leːs].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 50900, this pair ranks #1,156,060 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of le vs Lees
Shared letters: el. Private to "le": -. Private to "Lees": s.
"le" · 2 letters · shape CV · "Lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Lees ← eles · leess · llees
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "le" and "Lees" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "le" or "Lees"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "le" and "Lees" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "le" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,156,060 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "le" and "Lees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs Loses". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,156,060 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.